Enterprises look to internal clouds

Thursday, February 7, 2013 - 4:14pm

Although cloud computing is gaining momentum in the private sector, the term "cloud" has come to encapsulate a variety of technological initiatives. This was highlighted in a recent study by TheInfoPro, a service of 451 Research, which found that decision-makers around the world have labeled virtualization, standardization and consolidation efforts as part of their cloud projects.

While this trend suggests a slight misunderstanding, it also encourages hope, as more executives around the world are aware of the cloud and its underlying potential. However, the survey also found that companies have different approaches and varying levels of understanding of the cloud, as many are skeptical if they can receive any cost reductions from deploying the public cloud. Conversely, more than a third of respondents expect savings of between 1 percent and 10 percent with private cloud deployments.

"The digital infrastructure of the future will provide CIOs with an assortment of service delivery venues, which will enable users to schedule or automate the delivery of workloads to the most suitable internal or external clouds depending on workload characteristics, SLAs and policy requirements," said Peter ffoulkes, cloud computing research director at TheInfoPro.

On the road to internal clouds
Although the majority of respondents are still in the early phases of their internal cloud projects, 34 percent of respondents said they are encountering non-technical roadblocks associated with employees who are resistant to change or budgetary restrictions, according to the study.

A separate report by telecommunications tester company Spirent highlighted how there will be inherent challenges associated with adopting the cloud, largely because it introduces a whole new way to conduct business. Fortunately, taking the time to educate and train the workforce to use the cloud efficiently will eliminate these issues, allowing organizations to continue with their deployment strategies. This ongoing migration will also be helpful for the cloud in general.

"As IT organizations complete their infrastructure virtualization and automation projects and turn toward cloud initiatives, there will be significant upside opportunity for a veritable host of cloud service and cloud enabling technology vendors over the next two years," ffoulkes said.

As the cloud industry matures, decision-makers will be more inclined to use the technology to stay competitive and reduce costs in the long run, giving them a leg up over rival firms.